Posted by:
Clayton Makepeace
August 28, 2008
Issue #15
- 3 Golden Rules for avoiding most legal nightmares …
- 4 MORE secrets for KEEPING the millions you're going to make as a savvy business owner, marketing exec or copywriter …
- And MORE!
Dear Business-Builder,
One year before 9/11 – almost to the day – I was cooling my heels on the 86th floor of Manhattan's World Trade Center, waiting to be grilled by a team of government investigators and wondering how IN THE HELL I'd ever wound up there …
I flashed back to the moment, two years earlier, when a FedEx truck had rolled up to my office and disgorged an innocent-looking box. Inside the box, I found a bunch of investment newsletters written by a guy I'd never heard of – and a letter from my agent asking me to "take a look."
As I read the first issue, I felt like somebody had just poured ice water down the front of my shorts. What the editor was saying shocked me … chilled me – and ultimately, electrified me!
This guy was saying truly outrageous things about President Clinton's past and making extreme, negative predictions about the future of the economy and the stock market.
In short, his audacious, uniquely powerful message was in stark contrast to the Pollyanna pabulum I was seeing from other financial publishers.
The fact that I disagreed with most of the editor's views was immaterial to me at the time. If ad agencies and copywriters only worked with clients and media whose opinions we agree with, there wouldn't BE any ad agencies or copywriters!
To me, the editor was simply …
- A U.S. citizen, expressing his (admittedly outrageous) opinions, and …
- An American businessman, attempting to attract new customers.
Now I feel it's only fair to remind you: I did NOT graduate Harvard Law School – or any other attorney assembly line for that matter.
… But I am a proud graduate of McKinley Elementary School in Tremonton Utah. And when Mr. Walden tested my sixth-grade class on the U.S. Bill of Rights and Constitution back in 1962, I passed with flying colors (OK – so maybe it was just a "C+").
I distinctly remember those dusty documents saying – and I'm quoting from memory here …
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Posted by:
Clayton Makepeace
August 25, 2008
Issue #488
Dear Business-Builder,
OK — I won’t lie to you. I’m up to my eyeballs today. So instead of taking the usual four to six hours to write an issue, I’m going to let you write it for me.
Devious, right?
Here’s the deal. Pretty much at random, we picked a direct mail piece that just hit our mailbox. I didn’t write it nor do I know who did. It’s not the greatest promotion for a financial newsletter ever written, and it’s certainly not the worst.
But the fact is, the publisher thought enough of this copy to spend a pretty penny printing and mailing it. And although I don’t know the publisher personally, I figure we could maybe do him a huge favor by critiquing this direct mail piece for him.
Because like all promotions, this one could probably be improved — and I’m counting on you to help me do it.
Just click here (or right-click and choose “Save Target As …” to save it the file to your computer) to download the PDF of the direct mail piece, then give us your ideas for strengthening this copy on the blog at the end of this post.
I’ll check back in several times each day to keep the conversation going and to add my two cents-worth. Then, next Monday, when we’re done, I’ll send all of our best suggestions and ideas to the publisher and invite him to contact you to get more ideas or maybe even to write a promotion for him.
You’ll probably want to know a little bit about the prospects this package was written for. Typically, the ideal prospect for a financial newsletter is male, average age 65, politically conservative who has subscribed to other financial newsletters in the recent past. Average total net worth is around $1 million.
This should be a fantastic exercise. We’ll all learn from it and — who knows? — you may even wind up with a new client as a result!
So what are you waiting for? Download the PDF and get to work!
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Posted by:
Clayton Makepeace
August 18, 2008
Issue #483
Dear Business-Builder,
The great investor Warren Buffet has a net worth of about $62 billion. That’s sixty-two thousand million dollars.
If your net worth is $10 million, Warren is 6,200 times richer than you.
If you’re worth $1 million, he has 62,000 times more money than you do.
If your net worth is $100,000, Mr. Buffet is 620,000 times richer than you are.
There are people whose businesses grow a hundred, maybe even a thousand times or more faster than yours does. For every new customer you attract, they attract 100, 1,000, maybe even 10,000 or more.
There are people who look, feel and perform ten, twenty, even thirty years younger than you do …
Who have far greater success in love and relationships (OK – maybe just in sex) than you do …
Who live better for less, have greener lawns, clearer skin, more hair, thinner waists and smaller butts, better-behaved or more successful kids, more friends or are more successful in some other area of life than you are.
Sorry – but you know it’s true. And no, I’m not trying to depress you – just trying to make a very important point.
So let me ask you: WHY do you think all those people are doing so much better than you in so many different areas?
Are they all thousands of times smarter than you?
Do they work thousands of times harder?
Are they thousands of times luckier?
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Posted by:
Clayton Makepeace
August 12, 2008
Issue #479
Dear Business-Builder,
Sorry about yesterday. We returned from our ten-day vacation Sunday night and frankly, I’m still jet-lagged.
San Fran was outstanding. We stayed downtown and I swear I feel like we walked every square inch of it. And Chinatown. And Fisherman’s Wharf. And the Marina District. And Haight-Ashbury.
I’m pleased and somewhat relieved to report that the Pacific Ocean is still right where it was last time I saw it. No lower; no higher. And that Alioto’s still serves the best clam chowder I’ve ever sunk a spoon into.
The redwoods were grand, Carmel was charming and Big Sur — despite the recent fires there — was breathtaking, Hearst Castle was amazing but frankly, a little sad. Probably the gloomiest house I’ve ever seen.
Santa Barbara seduced all of us and our three-night stay at Raffles L’Ermitage in Beverly Hills was interesting. Didn’t really see any celebrities in the bar, but James Woods did hop out of his car just as we hopped into ours.
And of course, three days of revisiting my old stomping grounds in South Bay and Hollyweird and the “V.I.P. Behind the Scenes Tour” of Universal Studios were a blast.
Now, I just need a vacation from my vacation.
But before I hit the sack, here’s some stuff I’ve been thinking about that I hope will help …
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Posted by:
Clayton Makepeace
August 4, 2008
Issue #473
How to write better sales copy, faster.
Dear Business-Builder,
Short one today.
As you read this, I’m up to my eyeballs in what’s commonly known as “Family Time.”
Last Friday, The Redhead, my 15-year-old daughter and my 14-year-old son surrendered our dignity to the Department of Homeland Security … clambered into four First-Class seats on a Delta jet in Atlanta … endured the 4 ½ hour non-stop to San Francisco … rented a dorky minivan (aargh!) … and after a couple of days of sightseeing, began slowly winding our way south.
So far, we’ve spent one night in Atlanta, two nights in San Francisco and we bunked last night in Menlo Park. Today, we’re doing The Redwoods, Santa Cruz, Monterey and tonight we will collapse, exhausted, I’m sure, in Carmel.
Tomorrow, it’s on to San Luis Obispo and not one, but two tours of Hearst Castle … the next day, Santa Barbara and the beach. Then, it’s three nights at Raffles L’Ermitage in Beverly Hills.
If you need me, I’ll be in the bar. And if I know me, I’ll be nursing a double Grey Goose on the rocks.
So, since none of this has actually happened yet (it’s still last Tuesday, my time), and since I have a ream of copy still to do for my clients and another ream to finish up for my own products PLUS a webinar to prepare for my beloved EasyWriters Marketing Club (membership: Closed!) before I head out …
I’m going to cut right to the chase …
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